High-Protein Cranberry Quinoa Cookies *Vegan *Video

Quinoa cookies create such great texture – and nutrition. So much good stuff packed into these ones – quinoa, tahini, flax, cinnamon – to show you it is possible to make healthy cookies.

Quinoa is the poster child for vegan nutrition with all of the essential amino acids (aka complete protein), and it has lots of other benefits, too. So healthy quinoa cookies are good to eat for breakfast, snack, or dessert.

It’s high in folate, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese. The cool thing about whole foods, like quinoa, is that they give your body so much overall benefit – not just the individual nutrients.

Tahini is ground sesame seeds, so very high in calcium, but also fiber. Flax adds more great fiber, plus omega-3 fatty acids. Cinnamon helps balance blood sugar levels, and encourages your digestive system to break down and absorb these yummy quinoa cookies.

So these are good cookies for everyone in this house: a mom who’s breastfeeding (so baby gets the nutrients indirectly), an active 3-year-old boy, a grandma who’s post-menopause, an on-the-go corporate lawyer, a husband who works out a lot, and a nutritionist who just likes a good healthy cookie with her tea.

My nephew was allowed a cookie after dinner to give you a review. I was downstairs at the time, and when his mom told him I’d made them, he ran down and said to me, ‘This cookie is so good! You made it for me. It tastes good.’ No lie, that’s a direct quote. Gotta love 3-year-old sentence structure.

Optional Additions

Directions

Mash the banana, and mix in all the ingredients up to the flour until thoroughly combined.

Mix in the flour until just combined, then fold in the dried cranberries and any other additions.

Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone sheet, and put in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until browned around the edges.

Note: Cook the quinoa by putting the dry grain in a pot with twice the amount of water and a pinch of salt, bring to a boil then simmer covered for 25 minutes. To make 1 1/2 cups cooked you would need 1/2 cup dry, or you can make more to have leftovers for dinner.